More aircraft of beleaguered private carrier Jet Airways have been grounded, mainly due to non-payment to lessors, taking the total number to 49, senior DGCA official said Thursday.
"At this moment, they (airline) have 70 aircraft that are operational. At early December, they were operating 100 aircraft," a Directorate General of India Aviation (DGCA) official told PTI.
According to Jet Airways website, the airline has over 119 aircraft in its fleet.
The "remaining 49 aircraft are grounded" and the airline has been told to ensure that passengers do not suffer because of flight cancellations resulting from this situation, the DGCA official told PTI.
Jet Airways has been maintaining since February 7, when it announced the grounding of four planes, that it is actively "engaged" with all its aircraft lessors and regularly provides them with updates on the efforts undertaken to improve its liquidity. Since then, it has been grounding aircraft in tranches.
The DGCA official said Thursday that the airline has been told that "in case the flights are being cancelled, the passengers should be properly compensated or given the alternative flight. We should not be receiving any complaints regarding that."